It looks like as many as eight cultural objects will not live to see implementation. We are talking about, among others, the competitively selected expansion of the National Museum in Warsaw, the building of the Polish Royal Opera House on the edge of the Royal Lazienki Park and the adaptation of the former Cracovia Hotel for the Museum of Architecture and Design. What is the reason for such a decision by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage?
Lazienki without the Theatre of the Polish Royal Opera House
The winners of the competition for the design of the Polish Royal Opera Theater in Warsaw's Lazienki Park (the competition was organized by the Polish Royal Opera and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) were announced in September 2023. The jury, chaired by Prof. Magdalena Kozień-Woźniak, considered the proposal of Bolesław Stelmach's studio as the best.
The three-dimensional model of a metaphorical forest used to shape the tectonics of the building gives an individual character to the building of the Polish Royal Opera House and creates a new sign in space. The work reconciles, in an original way, the existing layout of the Stanislawowska Axis, the corner of the Royal Baths and the neighborhood of contemporary architecture, which is often created in an accidental manner. It is a clear sign in the landscape of the presence of high culture and balanced aestheticization of space. It creates a new identity for the place harmonized with the historical space and enriches the landscape and compositional-urban values — justified the jury's decision.
First Prize in the competition for the design of the Theatre of the Polish Royal Opera House
© STELMACH I PARTNERZY BIURO ARCHITEKTONICZNE | Illustrations courtesy of the competition organizers
We addressed the question about the reason for the suspension of the investment to the Ministry.
The decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to abandon the investment in the construction of the Theatre of the Polish Royal Opera House is due to the limited possibilities of financing it in 2024 and subsequent years in the context of the significant previous long-term commitments of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage — the response reads. — The current state of the state budget in part 24 — culture and national heritage protection, given the extremely serious needs for investment funds, does not allow for further implementation of the above investment task and incurring further obligations in this regard. In addition, the land on which the headquarters of the POK [Polish Royal Opera House] was to be built belongs to the Royal Łazienki Museum. In the opinion of the conservation service, this is not a suitable place for this building.
National Museum in Warsaw without a new wing
Radio Eska reports that the MNW expansion project is set to suffer a similar fate.
At the beginning of 2024, the National Museum in Warsaw received a letter from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage recommending the abandonment of the investment entitled Construction of the Conservation and Storage Center of the National Museum in Warsaw — Monika Bala of the MNW Communications and Marketing Department told eska.pl.
The competition to expand the National Museum building in Warsaw with a conservation and storage section (the competition was organized by the MNW and the Warsaw Branch of SARP) was won in May 2022 by the P2PA studio from Wroclaw. The jury, chaired by Prof. Ewa Kuryłowicz, appreciated the project for its harmonious integration into the garden space surrounding the museum and its proportional connection with the existing volume of the building.
The new pavilion of the National Museum in Warsaw is a culturally significant object, on an international scale. [...] In the heavily ideologically charged context of the Museum's neighboring edifices of the former Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, the stock exchange and office buildings, thanks to the building's carefully selected materiality, the play of light and shadow, the competition work is an outstanding building with an attractive architectural form, also for future generations — reads the jury's justification.
First Prize in the competition for the expansion of the National Museum building in Warsaw with a conservation and storage section
© P2PA | Illustrations courtesy of the competition organizers
The decision to put on hold the project, which we practically completed in December 2023, came as a big surprise. Especially in the context of the very short period in which it was taken — explains Jakub Podgórski of the P2PA studio. — It should be remembered that the entire process — from the analysis of the needs of the National Museum in Warsaw, the creation of the functional program of the building, the announcement and adjudication of the competition through the implementation of the design work and formal agreements — consumed several years, the architect adds.
Cracovia without the Museum of Design and Architecture
At the same time, it is necessary to consider the broader context of similar decisions, which, in our opinion, occur all too often in the context of public procurement carried out in the form of an architectural competition — Podgórski continues. As an example, we can cite two competition projects that were decided not to proceed, which are located 150 meters from each other and had a common Employer — the National Museum in Krakow. We are talking about the Wyspianski Museum and the Museum of Architecture and Design, which was to be located in the former "Cracovia" hotel. The project for the Royal Opera House in Warsaw's Lazienki Park remains a not isolated example. Thus, the question arises in us architects about responsibility. Not the legal one, because there is none, but the social one, especially in the context of public finances — concludes the architect.
The results of the competition for the design of the reconstruction of the former "Cracovia" hotel — an icon of modernism designed by Witold Cęckiewicz — to become the headquarters of the Museum of Design and Architecture in Krakow were announced in November 2023 (the competition was organized by the MNK and SARP Krakow Branch). The jury, chaired by Prof. Bolesław Stelmach, awarded the proposal of the Lewicki Łatak Biuro Projektowe, appreciating, among other things, the proposed functional-spatial and pro-environmental solutions.
First Prize in the competition for the project to rebuild the former "Cracovia" hotel to become the headquarters of the Museum of Design and Architecture in Krakow
© Lewicki Łatak Biuro Projektowe | Illustrations courtesy of the competition organizers.
As reported by PAP, the list of objects that the ministry declined to fund also included the construction of the permanent headquarters of the National Museum of Technology in Warsaw, the modernization of the Museum of Artistic Books, the adaptation of a former military hospital in Chelm to house the Museum of the Memory of the Victims of the Wolyn Massacre and the L. Kaczynski Center for Truth and Reconciliation, the adaptation of a building on Powsinska Street in Warsaw for the Museum of Christian-National Heritage, and the creation of infrastructure for the development of the "Eagle and Cross" night show of the Park Dzieje Cultural Center. Instead, the Saski Palace (WXCA reconstruction project) may await reconstruction, which we wrote about in January this year: What next for the Saski Palace? Are we getting closer to an answer?
